News and Events

Daniel Chavarria, a graduate student working with Drs. Aaron Baker and Andrew Dunn, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Before applying to UT Austin’s Biomedical Engineering Department, Chavarria did research through the BME CUReS Cancer REU, a ten-week research experience sponsored by the National Science Foundation for undergraduate student. In this program non-UT Austin students are partnered with graduate student and faculty mentors to conduct cancer research projects.

Students from other institutions are invited to participate in an NSF-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates at UT Austin. Application deadline for the Texas BME CUReS Cancer REU is February 1, 2020. Apply here.

Nicholas Peppas, professor of biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, pediatrics, surgery and pharmacy at The University of Texas at Austin and an expert in biomaterials and drug delivery systems, has been awarded the Sigma Xi Monie A. Ferst Award sponsored by the Georgia Institute of Technology Sigma Xi Chapter.

Taylor Johnson, a senior biomedical engineering undergraduate student, has been selected to participate in the Science Mentoring and Diversity Program (SDMP). SMDP is a competitive one-year career mentoring program that pairs ethnically diverse students or early career researchers with industry mentors who work at companies in medical technology, biotechnology, and consumer healthcare.

An emphasis on the psychosocial elements of living with diseases such as breast cancer may seem uncommon in engineering. But Mia K. Markey, biomedical engineering professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering, is dedicated to designing decision-support systems for patients, aiming to help enhance their quality of life post-treatment.

Busy and ambitious are two accurate descriptors for biomedical engineering undergraduate student Abhishek Dasgupta. While on the 40 Acres, the 21 year old who grew up in Sugarland, Texas, co-founded TEDxUTAustin, dabbled in a food startup, worked part-time as a real estate agent, conducted summer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and sat in on a 16-hour open brain surgery. He was recently recognized on Austin Inno’s 25 Under 25 for 2019.

On the wall of Janet Zoldan’s lab, which is teeming with enthusiastic students, is a poster with ZOLDAN LAB in capital letters printed across the top. Underneath it lies a short, curious statement: Stem Cells Are Like Pokèmon.
“Stem cells can become any cell type just as Pokémon can evolve into more advanced Pokémon,” said Zoldan, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering.

Professor Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Center for Computational Oncology Thomas Yankeelov pens an Op-Ed for The Hill. 

Pooja Trivedi, a fourth-year biomedical engineering student, has been selected as a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit Scholar. She is one of 1,000 students to receive the scholar designation, which will fund her attendance at the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit in Detroit, October 27-30, 2019. The four-day event features speakers involved in technology, healthcare, science, and innovation.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed new guidelines for fabricating nanoscale gel materials, or nanogels, that can deliver numerous therapeutic treatments to treat cancer in a precise manner. In addition to enabling the delivery of drugs in response to tumors, their nanogels can target malignant cells (or biomarkers), degrade into nontoxic components and execute multiple clinical functions.